The Alexandria City Council held a special public hearing on March 9, 2026, at 5:30 PM local time (10:30 UTC) to receive community input on the City Manager's Proposed FY 2027 Operating Budget, the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY 2027–2036, and proposed tax rate recommendations. The hearing took place in the Council Chambers at the Del Pepper Community Resource Center, with remote participation via Zoom. Over 30 speakers addressed the council, focusing on housing affordability, education funding, opposition to the Sheriff's voluntary collaboration with ICE, and other community priorities.
Yeah, but someone makes sure we're playing out here. I just want to make sure you actually have a check in point. Thank you. Oh, you can't do that. All right, good evening, everyone. It is 5 34. We are now going to go ahead and begin our public hearing. I do want to remind everyone that we need to have everyone seated for safety purposes. There is an overflow room if you are unable to find a seat in here, and you can just come out and turn to the left and staff will direct you to the overflow room. So Madam Clerk, please call the role. Vice Mayor Bagley. Councilman McGee. Here. Councilman Chapman. Councilman Elmuby. Here. Councilwoman Green. Okay. So before we go into our first speaker, I just want to remind everyone that this is a public meeting for the purpose of conducting the city's business. We encourage participation. We encourage engagement. Signs are appropriate. You're able to snap, but we do ask that we keep talking to a minimum in between. Also, any disruptions, I will give a warning. I will then give a second warning, and if it continues, I will then ask one of our officers from APD to escort you out. So I hope that we can do this in a way that's respectful of everyone. Also make sure you know that the person who's going after you, they can you can't hear what they're saying if everyone else is speaking. But we are looking forward to hearing your perspectives and getting your feedback on our budget. I will since this room is a little tricky. But here is our podium to my left. There will be a little timekeeper right in front of you, and then at the end of three minutes, it will go off. In order to keep us moving along, I apologize in advance, but I will I will stop everyone right at three minutes so that everyone has equal time. With that, I'm going to call our first um our first speaker. Well, actually, I think I have to have you say it first. Public hearing on the city manager's proposed annual operating budget for FY 2027, including schools, the proposed capital improvement program. CIP for FY2027 to FY2036, including school CIP and the proposed tax rate recommendations. Okay. Now I will call our first speaker, Michael Schuster. Good evening, Mayor Gaskins, City Council members, and Mr. City Manager James Parajan. My name is Michael Schuster, and I am co-chair of the Alexandria Commission on Aging. We support the proposed uh budget provisions maintaining funding for the tax and rental relief programs for older Alexandrians. We also thank the uh city manager for providing funding for both food hubs and uh paratransit and increasing funding for the Alexandria Fund for uh human services. Our concerns are less uh about what is in the proposed budget than how the city programs for older Alexandrians will be implemented under the proposed budget. I want to focus on two programs that are being threatened with reduced participation because of the changes mandated by the federal law known as HR 1. Although we have confidence as city agencies who work diligently to soften the impact of these new severe requirements, the need to reduce errors, especially in the supplemental nutrition assistance program, SNAP, creates a tension, potentially adversely affecting the city's uh most vulnerable. Today, over 13 percent of uh Alexandrian's population is over the age of 65, up from 9% in 2010. Under SNAP, adults must now work or provide community service for 20 hours each week to receive benefits. Although there are approximately 12,000 individuals in 6,000 households receiving SNAP benefits today. The this only represents about 40 percent of those eligible for SNAP.